“Rear Up, Make Love to Me! Rear Up, Bleat for Me!”: Heteronormative Male Sexuality in the Mesopotamian Therapies for the Recovery of Sexual Desire

This chapter explores the relationship between masculinity, male sexuality, and therapeutic rituals in ancient Mesopotamia, focusing on metaphors from the natural and wild animal worlds used in second and first millennium incantations for restoring male sexual desire (šà-zi-ga/nīš libbi). The loss of sexual desire, a core element of masculinity, posed a threat to the patient's manhood and social standing. Therapeutic rituals can be viewed as mechanisms for reinforcing gender regime, using natural and wild animal metaphors to regulate male gender and sexuality. The incantation language, alongside ritual symbolism and materia medica, highlights the portrayal of ideal male sexuality as dominant, vigorous, and untamable. The rituals emphasized heteronormative penetrative intercourse as central to sexual fulfillment. Through ritual performances, sexual experiences were shaped and naturalized within a symbolic order, reinstating the gender ideals of ancient Mesopotamia.